Fairmont junior excels in weightlifting, competes at The Arnold

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Fairmont junior Kaziah Jones currently holds the first place title for her clean and jerk and her snatch categorized by her age and weight according to USA Weightlifting.

On Sept. 22, 2018, Jones competed in the state weightlifting meet where she received a gold medal for first in her age group, along with a silver medal for second place all around. Jones has an unprecedented snatch of 48 kg or 105 lbs and a clean jerk of 63 kg or 138 lbs.

Jones does her training at the Dirty Gym in Dayton and is the only girl in her group, however she practices with three other guys. She started lifting last June with coach Randy Swain for volleyball and ended up being interested in lifting professionally.

“My dad was a weightlifter in college so he knows pointers and he tells me some extra stuff. He goes to a lot of my practices and shows up to every meet,” Jones said.

The snatch is used with a wide grip, keeping the bar tight to your body and making contact with your hips to then pull yourself under the bar with it over your head. The objective of the snatch is to lift the barbell from the ground to overhead in one continuous motion.

According to USA Weightlifting, in the clean jerk event, the barbell is lifted overhead in two continuous motions – the clean, which brings the bar to the shoulders, and the jerk, in which the athlete raises the bar overhead.

“My max clean jerk is 51 kg or 112 lbs and my max snatch is 67 kg or 147 lbs. These are the only two I currently compete in,” Jones said.

Jones said her favorite part of training is when she is practicing her weightlifting altogether, while her least favorite part is her accessory work or the things she doesn’t compete in such as the bench press or squats.

“I’m currently prepping for Youth Nationals coming up this June,” Jones said.

Similar to wrestling, powerlifting is a weight class sport, so she is required to make a certain weight before a competition.

“I compete as a 55 kg or 121 pound youth,” Jones said.

Jones is mostly eating a lot of protein and carbs since she is currently six lbs underweight at 115 lbs.

“I drink AdvoCare protein drinks and pre-workout which is like an energy booster,” she said.

If someone is looking to start up weightlifting, Jones suggests making every warm up the same and to stay consistent. However, more experienced people trying to get stronger, should mix up their workouts and not do the same number of sets and reps each time.

On Feb. 28, 2019, Jones competed in The Arnold Powerlifting Competition in Columbus, Ohio. She placed first in the clean and jerk at 70kg or 145 lbs and her snatch at 54 kg or 118 lbs. Overall, Jones came out of the weekend with three gold medals.

“Last year at this time I was just getting into weightlifting,” she said, “I went to The Arnold to watch and said, ‘one day that’d be me’ and here I am now.”